I shall just make a few remarks on Joseph's marriage and the restoration of his brethren. The strange wife shadows forth the Church. Christ presented himself to the Jews, and being rejected, took his seat on high, and sent down the Holy Ghost to gather out an elect Church, composed of Jew and Gentile, to be united with him in heavenly glory. The doctrine of the Church has already been dwelt upon in our remarks on Chapter xxiv., but one or two points remain to be noticed here. And first, we may observe that Joseph's Egyptian bride was intimately associated with him in his glory.[20] She, as being part of himself, shared in all that was his. Moreover, she occupied a place of nearness and intimacy known only to herself. Thus it is with the Church, the bride of the Lamb. She is gathered to Christ to be the sharer, at once, of his rejection and his glory. It is Christ's position which gives character to the position of the Church, and her position should ever give character to her walk. If we are gathered to Christ, it is as exalted in glory, and not as humbled down here. "Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." (2 Cor. v. 16.) The Church's gathering-point is Christ in glory. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." (John xii. 32.)
There is far more of practical value in the clear apprehension of this principle than might, at first sight, appear. It is ever the aim of Satan, as it is the tendency of our hearts, to lead us to stop short of God's mark in every thing, and specially in the centre of our unity as Christians. It is a popular sentiment, that "the blood of the Lamb is the union of saints," i. e., it is the blood which forms their centre of unity. Now, that it is the infinitely precious blood of Christ which sets us individually as worshippers in the presence of God is blessedly true. The blood, therefore, forms the divine basis of our fellowship with God. But when we come to speak of the centre of our unity as a church, we must see that the Holy Ghost gathers us to the Person of a risen and glorified Christ; and this grand truth gives character--high and holy character--to our association as Christians. If we take lower ground than this we must inevitably form a sect or an _ism_. If we gather round an ordinance, however important, or round a truth, however indisputable, we make something less than Christ our centre.